To improve readiness, capability and proficiency, the U.S. Navy must focus on deepening partnerships with private industry so that commercial expertise, experiences and efficiencies can be applied to the Fleet. Fostering meaningful relationships with private industry would provide a venue for innovative ideas and nondefense industry thinking to be applied to U.S. Navy challenges in areas such as safety, operations and readiness. This would provide much of the same benefit as crowd-sourcing but with industry experts and leaders. The creation of mutually beneficial partnerships would also provide the commercial sector access to and routine contact with the U.S. Navy and allow for increased coordination, collaboration and information sharing that may be important to business, like: piracy, maritime cybersecurity, port security and information sharing.

The Secretary of the Navy’s (SECNAV) September 1, 2017 direction to conduct a Strategic Readiness Review of the force is an important first step in fostering new and greater relationships between the U.S. Navy and the private sector. For these ends, the most important aspect of the Strategic Readiness Review is not the fact that this study was commissioned, it is in the specific guidance to include both “service and industry experts” in the review and recommendations. The U.S. Navy must seize on the momentum of the partnerships created in this initiative, as well as senior leadership’s recognition of the value and potential that private industry expertise, experience, and resources can have on Fleet issues and challenges. To capitalize on the gains and partnerships that will be created with private industry, specific initiatives should be developed to continue where the near-term Strategic Readiness Review will leave off. One idea would be for the U.S. Navy to create an enduring advisory group of industry leaders, essentially mirroring the Defense Innovation Advisory Board structure but empowering it to create specific nonpermanent focus groups that can apply industry experience to specific Fleet issues to inform decision making and provide recommendations or solutions.

A useful model, the Defense Innovation Advisory Board was established in March 2016 by the secretary of defense and was created to provide private industry expertise to benefit Department of Defense culture, processes and the entire organization. This board, which has already seen some success, could be easily established and adapted to fit U.S. Navy needs, bringing together industry leaders to assess a wide range of challenges and issues facing the Fleet. Private industry and the public would gain a better appreciation for U.S. Navy significance, capabilities, and mission while the Service would gain tremendous experience and knowledge that could be used to review specific SECNAV focus areas as well as anything the advisory board identifies during visits with commands and sailors. Responsible only to the SECNAV, and made up of a diverse and rotating group of industry leaders, the advisory board would have direct input and access to provide U.S. Navy leadership with recommendations and proposals to improve safety, efficiency, and effectiveness as well as other initiatives that could benefit both the military and the private sector.

Private industry experts would no doubt be able to provide a fresh perspective and analysis of challenges facing the Fleet, potentially providing recommendations, ideas or solutions that military run studies or surveys might not identify due to differences in paradigmatic thinking, such as focuses on efficiencies in terms of profit margins and cost savings, shareholder interests and different views on technological solutions. While some of what the U.S. Navy does is unique to the military, it is not a stretch to think that the Fleet can, and would, benefit from nondefense industry processes and lessons learned. Commercial shipping companies may not be able to provide recommendations for combat or tactics during a war at sea, but that does not mean they can’t relate to many other aspects of naval life, work and operations. As an example, the private shipping industry would no doubt be able to provide useful input on a wide range of shared issues, such as seamanship, navigation, safety, training, education and certification, watch rotation, vessel maintenance, and even shipyard repairs and capacity.